subform will not link to main form

[wolfm]

I am struggling with something. I have a main form, called assets. It contains a part number, description and cost.

I have a subform under it, called asset breakdown. It contains quantity, date received, and warehouse location. I created another lookup field, called “link to asset”, to tie the two forms together; via “link to asset” and “ID”-primary key, in assets.

What I want is to have “link to asset” in the subform to automatically to be filled in with the ID-primary key, from ‘Assets’. When I enter into the subform, I need to manually add the ID for that asset, in the drop down box.

To summarize:
Main Form and Table--‘Assets’: ID part number description cost
Subform and Table—‘Asset Breakdown’: ID quantity date received location link to asset
I want to link: ‘Assets’:ID to ‘Asset Breakdown’:link to asset – automatically, without having to enter it.


I have the appropriate relationship set up. I'm very stuck.
Thank you!

[ssanfu]

It doesn't sound like you have linked the main form and the sub form CONTROL.
Double click on the sub form CONTROL, click on the data tab, look for "Link Master Fields" and "Link Child Fields".
Click in one of the fields, then click on the ellipsis (the 3 dots "..."). Select the PK field and the FK field. Click OK.


BTW, having "ID" as the PK field name for both tables is not a good idea.
Maybe AssetID, Asset_ID or AssetID_PK would be better names
For table "AssetBreakdown" (notice I removed the space - spaces in object names are BAD), maybe use AssetBreakdownID, AssetBreakdown_ID or AssetBreakdownID_PK (what I would use).

Consider:

Assets
AssetID_PK (autonumber)
PartNumber
PN_Desc (Description is a reserved word in Access)
Cost

AssetBreakdown
AssetBreakdownID_PK (autonumber)
AssetID_FK (link to asset)
Quantity
DateReceived
Location

I created another lookup field,

Lookup fields in TABLES are a bad thing to use. See
The Evils of Lookup Fields in Tables
http://access.mvps.org/access/lookupfields.htm

The Ten Commandments of Access
http://access.mvps.org/access/tencommandments.htm

[wolfm]

Great! It worked! Thanks so much for that, and the other pointers.